Plist ethos (was TIMES article)

[Tom Stanton]

At 09:29 AM 6/21/97 -0400, davemarc wrote:
[snip front 2/3rd]
>3.  Let's not kid ourselves about TP's position here.  He's a pretty smart
>cookie who's been extremely good at maintaining a high degree of privacy
>for decades.  Now he's settled down a bit.  He's married to a major agent. 
>Between the two of them, I'm sure they have some clue they know what
>they're doing with the promotion of M&D.  Anyone who feels "we" should fall
>in line with TP's desire for privacy out of respect or worship for him
>might be a little more accepting of the assorted promotional events (i.e.
>the write-alike (not lookalike) contest, the panel discussion at the New
>School, the puppet show) that he and his wife apparently approve or at
>least condone.  

Agreed, but the "Times" picture was an ambush, not part of a
promotion, so I would contend it's in another class. Someone
told me that back when "Vineland" was published someone
hacked the California DMV and got TRP's photo, then put it on
the Internet, but it was refused by upstanding P-listers. Urban
legend, perhaps? 

The Nancy Sales photo was, I assume, planned, & the CNN 
"mystery  photo" likewise. These create good sport for those of us
who like a guilty pleasure or two. Stalking a schoolkid & snapping 
his father's mug, knowing that the father would not fight back much
& alarm his child, is another matter IMHO. While I would love to see
the photo, it wasn't taken in the sporting manner that CNN & others
have done in the past, which I think *is* important to TRP and the
Holt PR machine. 

In the end, the photos are a red herring anyway. It's the *biography*
I wonder about. At 60, TRP&Co. have got to be considering the final
phases of a masterfully executed literary career which will have to
include a biography of some sort, no doubt with some photos (but
maybe not!), that answers all of those other questions that I, for one,
am dying to learn more about. What happened in Mexico as he finished
"V."? Who, besides Mimi Baez & Chrissy jolly, did he have affairs with,
and why? Unhappy in love? Where did he do all the research for GR?
Did he really think They would get him after GR? What happend to cause
the "long silence" between GR & Vineland. What other work sits in boxes
or crates, unfinished? Who gets his papers, or will he do a Gogol & leave
us with little or no background? u.s.b.